The FBI has announced a successful hack of the servers operated by the Blackcat or ALPHV group, which provides ransomware-as-a-service, the world’s second largest group in terms of ransom payments. In addition, they have distributed a decryption code to over 500 victims who were attacked.
The seizure of the servers was made possible by FBI agents who infiltrated as affiliates of Blackcat, gaining access to the victim management dashboard. This dashboard displays information such as payment status, ransom amounts, acceptable discounts, types of computers targeted for ransom, and chat conversations with the victims. Following this, the agents successfully hacked into the server and obtained the secret encryption keys.
Blackcat’s business model relies on affiliates to distribute malware through various processes, such as searching for leaked passwords or hacking servers. As for Blackcat themselves, they oversee ransomware development, operate control servers, negotiate with victims, and collect payments. Once the money is obtained, both parties share the profits.
Each victim of Blackcat is given a URL to communicate with the criminals for negotiation purposes. FBI agents hacking into Blackcat’s servers have acquired both the encrypted domain .onion and the keys used by the criminals to communicate with the victims. After dismantling the server, the FBI can now set up a website to provide victims with decryption keys instead of negotiating ransom payments.
Currently, there are no reports on whether the FBI has apprehended any individuals involved in this operation.
TLDR: The FBI successfully hacked into the servers of the Blackcat group, a ransomware service provider. They distributed decryption codes to over 500 victims and gained access to the victim management dashboard. The FBI also obtained the encryption keys used by Blackcat for communication. It is not yet known if any individuals have been apprehended in connection to this operation.
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